Bullet shot from sub-inspector’s revolver kills friend, probe begins

A bullet shot from a service revolver of a police sub-inspector, TN Singh, posted in Karjan killed his close friend, Ashok Teli, on Monday morning.

While the police is investigating how the bullet was fired from the service revolver, Singh has claimed in his first statement that he was in the bathroom when he heard the gunshot.

On Monday morning, at around 9am, Singh’s service revolver misfired, with the bullet passing through Teli’s abdomen. Teli was rushed to Vadodara’s SSG hospital for treatment, but was declared dead on arrival.

Teli, a resident of Ahmedabad, and his wife had arrived on Sunday to drop off Singh’s mother at his Shivshakti Society apartment in Karjan.

According to the police, Singh has told his fellow-officers investigating the case that he was in the bathroom when he heard the gunshot. When he emerged out of the bathroom, he saw that the bullet had hit Teli, who was bleeding from his abdomen, Singh has said.

A team of forensic experts is now investigating the crime scene inside Singh’s apartment in Karjan. An officer said, “We have to verify if Singh’s claim of being in the bathroom is true. He has said that his service revolver was partly loaded, which means that it is not necessary that the first chamber would have had a bullet. In such a situation, we need to ascertain if Teli was fidgeting with the revolver when it went off or did the trigger get pressed accidentally. We are waiting to record statements of Singh’s mother and Teli’s wife.” Police officers have refused to conclude if the firing was accidental, yet.

According to officials, Teli’s wife is currently inconsolable and not in a right frame of mind to record her statement. Teli and Singh have been friends for several years. Singh’s mother had travelled to Ahmedabad to meet another relative and the Telis brought her back to Karjan at Singh’s request on Sunday.